The worlds of mechanical engineering and electronics will converge once more from 7 to 9 February at the Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre.
Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2023 is the ideal venue for firms looking to find new business opportunities. Undeniably one of the most important engineering shows in the UK calendar, it has been running virtually continuously since 1998, so this year marks its 25th anniversary.
The event has grown from a small, regional gathering of entrepreneurial companies to one of international importance. A large proportion of participants have supported the show since the beginning and the percentage of returning firms is high. Many regular participants have booked stands for 2023 and the show is set to be a sell-out again.
Having in one place the best of mechanical engineering and electronic products and services in approximately equal measure exhibited by companies from around the world gives the event a unique character. It is the go-to place to address multiple sourcing requirements efficiently. An interesting facet of the show is that although the technologies and industries covered are enormously diverse, there are no physical barriers between the areas, allowing easy cross-over between the various engineering disciplines.
Many hundreds of firms will highlight a vast array of mechanical, electrical, electronic, optoelectronic, electromechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic components and assemblies, PCBs, cables and connectors, as well as sensors, drives, encoders, fasteners, pressings, wireforms, springs, plastic and rubber mouldings, gaskets and more.
As usual, there will be suppliers of machine tools and tooling, workholding systems, metrology equipment, test and inspection systems, finishing machines, laser cutting and marking equipment, additive manufacturing machines and consumables, production and planning aids, and engineering and business software. Industry 4.0 solutions will be in evidence alongside controls, displays, HMIs, data acquisition systems, augmented, mixed, and virtual reality, robot and cobot machine tending and other automation solutions.
Additional diverse and no less essential products and services on offer will encompass oil and coolant supply, workshop equipment, dust and fume extraction, humidity control, workplace storage systems, bespoke case and foam manufacture, plastic packaging and injection moulding, hand tools, adhesives, industrial flooring, waste removal and recycling, training, freight services and business consultancy.
The event is also an important destination for subcontractors working in the production / mechanical engineering and electrical / electronic sectors to take stands and explain the scope of their services. Leading practitioners will show examples of components they have machined from a vast array of materials, while 3D printing bureaux will likewise exhibit their additively manufactured parts, and metrology providers will give details of what they offer. Further subcontract engineering services on display will include PCB production, electronics assembly, cable harness manufacture, test and inspection.
On the mechanical engineering side, a host of subcontract companies will be present. CNC milling and turning, grinding and toolmaking as well as wire and spark erosion are variously offered by numerous exhibitors including AJM Engineering, Axiom Product Development, Canal Engineering, DRN Engineering, Machined Precision Components, Mintdale Engineering, RHH Franks, RMA Precision Engineering, Rowan Precision, and Suntium Co in Taiwan, which specialises particularly in gear manufacture.
In the sheet metal and fabrication sector, Barlow Sheet Metal operates from two factory units in Waterlooville, Biz Engineering offers tube and pipe bending capability, EMJ Metals has sheet metal cutting and bending capacity, Fife Fabrications will promote its electro-mechanical assembly service alongside sheet metalworking, and Wood plc will exhibit sheet metal components, welded fabrications and assemblies that it supplies to the automotive, oil and gas, nuclear, and process and packaging industries.
Orbital Fabrications is a specialist in the field of manufacturing high purity stainless steel manifolds and control systems for use in the semiconductor, pharmaceutical, chemical and process industries and will showcase its latest developments in welding and fabricating complex assemblies in stainless and high nickel content alloys, utilising automated orbital welding techniques alongside lathe and turntable TIG welding. Southwest Fabrications will occupy a stand to highlight its experience in CNC punching and folding, laser profiling, aluminium and stainless steel welding, assembly, and surface preparation and finishing.
Additive manufacturing services will be on site. Bowman Additive Production employs industry leading technology for efficient manufacture of 3D printed parts that are traceable, accurate and repeatable. IPFL utilises industrial additive and subtractive manufacturing technologies to produce top quality plastic parts for the medical, defence, motorsport and scientific industries. Services include prototyping and production of microfluidics and pneumatic manifolds, as well as high speed milling and routing, laser cutting and fabrication.
The castings industry will be represented by the MJ Allen Group, a family-owned business established in 1958 consisting of five individual companies with expertise in engineering patterns and castings, CNC machining and laser cutting, architectural and structural metalwork, punch tools and dies, after-market clutch and brake kits, and the design and build of automotive and agricultural transmission systems. MRT Castings will underline its specialism in aluminium diecasting, CNC machining, surface finishing and assembly of components for electronics, medical, communications, defence and aerospace applications. Evtec Aluminium is also a leading firm in the design, manufacture and supply of complex aluminium castings. With in-house casting, machining, testing and assembly capabilities, the company considers quality at all stages of the design process, ensuring the lowest cost solution for customers.
In the area of component finishing, Lapping Services has been offering lapping and polishing services for over 35 years. It has the UK’s largest double-sided lapping capability and has AS9100 Rev D accreditation along with Rolls Royce Nuclear certification. MPE in Aberdare will focus on mechanical polishing, electropolishing, pickling, bead blasting, degreasing and passivation of stainless steel fabrications and assemblies.
Applied Coating Technologies applies decorative and functional coatings in low to high volumes across many industries, supported by extensive manual spray facilities and four robotic paint lines. Twickenham Plating Group's forte is the application of a range of finishes to a variety of substrates including copper, aluminium and ferrous alloys using masking technologies for selective plating, or conventional reel to reel, barrel, vat and rack plating. Finishes available include gold, silver, palladium, nickel, tin, zinc and cobalt. Frost Electroplating similarly offers gold, silver, tin, nickel, copper and electroless nickel surface conversion coatings, while Corodine provides electroplating and metal finishing services supported by X-ray fluorescence analysis, hull cell testing and wet analysis, allowing immediate live testing of solutions to maintain them at optimum working levels.
Plastic component manufacture will be particularly strong this year, especially injection moulding and assembly services. One such supplier is MGS Technical Plastics, as is Naiad Plastics, which also offers design for manufacture and overmoulding. Nordell, a UK plastics manufacturing and design company, employs over 150 staff primarily in injection moulding, including Class 7 cleanroom, and provides complimentary services including toolmaking and maintenance, ultrasonic welding and testing. Rencol Group offers plastic injection moulding services alongside aluminium component manufacture.
MHP Industries produces vacuum formed plastic components and is a specialist in custom covers and enclosures for markets ranging from medical appliances to wind turbines. Services include toolmaking, CAD/CAM, reverse engineering, 3D printing and injection moulding. Rutland Plastics is another plastic injection moulding company making parts from 1g to 45kg and up to 1.5m in size. It offers toolmaking services as well, as do injection moulding companies S&S, White Horse and WSM. On the other hand, Rochling Industrial (UK)'s speciality is CNC turning and 5-axis CNC milling of industrial, engineering and high performance plastics in low to high volumes, with an accent on weight reduction, corrosion resistance, and electrical / thermal insulation.
Subcontract measurement and inspection companies will take the opportunity to raise awareness of their niche in manufacturing industry. Measurement Solutions provides services to some of the UK's leading automotive and aerospace organisations and is a partner for 3D scanning, design and metrology for end-to-end manufacture and inspection. Equally, Sempre Group delivers a range of metrology systems, automation, software and services to UK and Irish manufacturers, especially in high precision industries like aerospace.
Any contract manufacturers visiting the show looking to research acquisition of capital plant and equipment, with or without automation, will be richly rewarded. Machine tool companies will include Ajax Machine Tools, tube and pipe bending equipment supplier AMOB UK, laser cutting, profiling and marking company Boxford, coil handling, servo feeds and presses specialist Bruderer UK, sliding- and fixed-head lathe firm Citizen Machinery UK, Haas Automation, Hurco Europe, Chinese laser cutting machine manufacturer Jinan Bodor CNC Machine Co, MACH Machine Tools, Matsuura Machinery, which will promote additive manufacturing as well as subtractive machining, Mills CNC, NCMT, XYZ Machine Tools, which has taken a second stand for its new TMC range of machining centres, Yamazaki Mazak UK and YMT Technologies.
Representing the workholding industry will be 1st Machine Tool Accessories, Lang Technik UK, Thame Workholding and chuck specialist Roehm, while Lehmann Rotary Tables will display what it claims is the world’s fastest direct-drive model capable of speeds of up to 5,450 rpm. Cutting tools from Guhring and Industrial Tooling Corporation will be displayed, as well as CNC punch press and press brake tooling plus laser consumables from Mate Tooling Solutions.
Oemeta UK will explain how its coolants and machining fluids are carefully matched to each machining application and will present its multifunctional concept, Hycut, comprising a coolant, neat oil and a washing fluid, all compatible with each other. More exhibitors of interest will be CNC system, DRO, encoder, touch probe and length gauge firm Heidenhain and Servo Components & Systems, which supplies automation products including linear electric actuators, linear electric motors, servo drives, brushless motors and gearheads. CGTech will take a stand to stand to demonstrate its Vericut CNC simulation and verification software in conjunction with the Force optimisation module, which looks for extra opportunities to optimise a cutting cycle, for example by adjusting feed rates for varying cutting conditions.
In the field of surface preparation, ActOn Finishing will be on hand to provide information on its systems that deburr, clean, smoothen, radius, polish and surface finish. MecWash Systems will promote its industrial washing machines, including models with ultrasonics. Surface cleaning solutions provider Teknox UK will be keen to talk about its surface finishing equipment and parts washing systems, again including ultrasonics. Vibratory finishing machine and consumables expert Sharmic Engineering will show its systems for deburring, degreasing, polishing and cleaning, alongside another well-known name in the surface finishing equipment sphere, Walther Trowal.
Additive manufacturing machines will be particularly prevalent this year. Additive-X sells and repairs 3D printers as well as providing professional advice and a bureau print service. Advent 3D is dedicated solely to the supply and support of the Formlabs range of SLA and SLS 3D printing technologies, and Carfulan Group company SYS Systems will explain the production potential of using Stratasys 3D technology. CDG 3D TECH offers 3D printer solutions by partnering with Intamsys, Sinterit, Omni3D, Fusion, Zmorph and Inkbit. CREAT3D supplies 3D printers, consumables, support and services across a range of additive technologies including FFF, SLA, SLS, composites and metals.
Europac3D offers 3D printing and scanning equipment. Fast, portable digital capture of almost any 3D shape is the province of its Artec3D handheld scanners, ideal for reverse engineering and quality inspection applications, while its Uniontech 3D printers offer SLA resin additive manufacturing with a focus on large build volumes and open source materials. GTX Europe also sells 3D printers and scanners to produce functional pre-production prototypes in PLA, ABS, PETG, nylon, carbon fibre and other materials.
Whether parts are additively or subtractively manufactured, injection moulded or produced in another way, they have to be inspected and measured to control their quality. Metrology companies are well aware that the footfall at Southern Manufacturing & Electronics is ideal for promoting their systems. Blum Novotest is a developer of in-process measurement solutions for the machine tool industry, and Bowers Group will promote its Moore & Wright, Baty, Sylvac, Trimos, Wyler and Gagemaker brands.
Optimax Imaging Inspection & Measurement's equipment from Alicona, Starrett, Inspekto, Mahr and Vision Engineering will be demonstrated, including the latest AI-guided visual inspection tools, 4K video microscope and video endoscopes. Two other Carfulan Group companies, OGP and Vicivision, will display their metrology systems. Status Metrology is synonymous with the supply and service of PC-DMIS powered co-ordinated measuring machines and optical Chotest flash measuring machines.
On the electronics side of the exhibition, subcontractors will be there in force, with considerable accent on PCB manufacture and assembly, SMT, electronic component production and box build services. Among them will be Advanced Chemical Etching, ASK Technology Cableplus Europe, Corintech, CT Production, Deval, DJ Electronic, DVR, Electronic Manufacturing Solutions, EISO Enterprise, Electronic Technicians, Emolice Contract Manufacturing Solutions, European Circuits, Eurotech Group, Finenet Electronic Circuit, Gen3, Grinsty Rail, IDB Engineering Services, InCap Electronics UK, NCAB Group UK, Nemco, Partner Electronics, Quality Precision Electronics, RJS Electronics, RVL, Shenzhen X-Mulong Circuit Co, Silmor, SMTXTRA, Starteam Global, Stewart Technology, Top Hex, Trojan Electronics 2018, Vector Blue Hub, Volburg, Wilson Process Systems and Yunex Traffic.
Cupio Services provides electronics assembly inspection services using optical, X-ray and scanning acoustic microscopy technologies. DVR is another leading subcontract electronics manufacturing company. Ignys is an electronics design and software development consultancy with technical expertise in electronics, firmware and embedded software, test and measurement. Inoplas Technology is known for its injection moulding solutions and specialism in overmoulding PCBs.
Equipment, hardware and consumables for electrical and electronics manufacture, labelling, inspection and test will also be on show from a plethora of suppliers including Accelonix, Advanced Manufacturing Services, Aerco, Alantys, Altus, ASMPT SMT Solutions, Bentec, Binder UK, Blundell Production Equipment, Brady, Broadband Technology 2000, Cablefirst, Carlo Gavazzi UK, CIE Electronics, Coax Connectors, Coilcraft, Conro Electronics, Delta Impact, Diamond, Easby, Elantas, Europlacer, Fuji Europe, Gem Cable, Gentech Circuits, Hitaltech UK, Ineltek, Jauch Quartz, K Lacey Cables, Lemo UK, Mycronic, ODU UK, Phoenix Dynamics, Rebound, Relec, Rochester, Schurter, Selwyn, Shoal, Win Source, Wurth and Yamaichi Electronics Deutschland.
Pillarhouse International have been providing soldering solutions for over forty years to the automotive, telecommunications, consumer, medical, aerospace and military sectors. So has Solderking Assembly Materials, whose range of products include hand and robotic solder wires, no-clean solder pastes, soldering fluxes and stencil cleaning solutions.
Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2023 will co-locate as usual with AutoAero, a specialist theme within the exhibition devoted to aerospace and automotive engineering. There is a regular, free bus service between Farnborough’s railway stations and the show. Parking is also free of charge, as is admission to the show. More information regarding entry and a full list of exhibitors are available from www.industrysouth.co.uk